⅙ Stater - Kroisos

Kroisos reformed Lydia's coinage around 560 BC by separating gold and silver into distinct series — ending the earlier electrum tradition and producing what are arguably the first bimetallic state coinage system in history. This sixth-stater is the smallest denomination in that gold series, likely intended for retail transactions rather than the large-value payments the heavier staters handled. The kingdom fell to Cyrus the Great in 546 BC, and Persian forces melted much of the royal treasury; that Kroisid gold survived at all in any quantity owes largely to temple dedications at Delphi and elsewhere, which kept pieces out of the melt.